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Topic: Weeder I/O boards (Read 2107 times)

On your compatibility list I could't find any notice about the possibility to use Weeder digital I/O boards form Weeder Technologies with Pluto.

Those boards are plugged into serial ports and can drive up to 14 digital logic I/O channel. Moreover they can be cascaded.Please have a look on their web site for more references (http://www.weedtech.com).They can be used for a wide variety of purpouses (drive relays and triacs, decode small keypad, and more) and last but not least they are cheap.

Is there any existing template already available to use them with Pluto?

We don't have a DCE device for that product. However, we have lots of tools that make it easy to add new DCE devices--it's probably no more than a day's work. In fact, it probably could be supported through our GSD device--in which case it may take only a couple hours and not even require real programming skills. Take a look at our docs--there's even a "create your own DCE device in 5 minutes" tutorial. If you run into trouble, let us know. If the board is supported through GSD, it's automatically available to all pluto users. If you need a C++ DCE Device, we can put the code in our svn repository so it's automatically built and included with each new release.

I'm just wondering if there has been any progress on the weeder boards? Or else i'll have a look into it with my limited knowledge and give a whack at it. I intend to automate my entire house using these boards, I've got 9 of them and no X10 so my plan is to make use of them.

actually I followed the path suggested by Aaron, i.e. I created a Generic Serial Devices with some ruby lines to send proper commands to proper channel. I didn't made yet any test in reading inputs from the board.

I have to say that it is far to be complete and fully usable, it is something very basic that you have adapt by yourself but it is working and (most important) it made me understand some interesting things about pluto devices.

Doing a GSD it is not really a difficult task, the only point is that there are not so many info on the official docs and the most difficult part (for me) was to gather all needed pieces and put them together to get a clear picture of what I was supposed to do.

If you search in this forum for GSD and/or Generic Serial Device and/or ruby you'll certainly find something useful as a starting point.

If you are interested I may rearrange a bit my notes related to this (you have to be patient ...) and post them here.